• When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

OT: Manga/Anime in Japan

Started by Bruce1971,

15 posts in this topic

Bruce1971

Bruce1971

Posted
Posted

A bit off topic but I just came back from a vacation in Japan and thought I would post a few Anime/Manga related pics I took.

 

The first batch of pics are from Akihabara. This is the famous Japanese electronics district but also is the Manga and it seemed Maid Cafe mecca of Japan.

 

DSC_0375.jpg

 

The sides of all the buildings are covered with big ads for products. This one is for some Anime DVD's.

 

 

DSC_0395.jpg

 

A wood carving in front of one store. This was done with a chainsaw and the t.v. you see in the background is showing a video of the artist creating the piece.

 

DSC_0363-1.jpg

 

These stores are huge compared to traditional North American comic/anime stores. Many of them are five to eight floors. This picture is of a five to six foot high Gundam statue which was taken on the Gundam floor. Thats right, a whole floor devoted just to Gundam.

 

DSC_0396.jpg

 

Speaking of Gundam, the Gundam Cafe. Wanted to check it out inside but there was a lineup to get in. Maybe now that Disney owns Marvel we might see a Marvel Superheroes Cafe?

 

 

DSC_0367.jpg

 

We collect baseball cards, they collect cute girl cards.

 

DSC_0354.jpg

 

An ad for a Maid Cafe.

 

 

DSC_0374.jpg

 

Since ads are not enough, girls out advertising Maid Cafes. Sorry for the crappy pic but took it while the girlfriend was not looking :) I could not push it because after we passed a maid massage place she made a comment about me want to touch their bums, I told her I wanted to touch something else, needless to say it did not go over to well.

 

 

Next up is Madarake. This is a huge mall with 150-200 stores full of collectibles. Most of which are manga/anime related, including a lot of vintage material. I could not take many photos as most stores had signs everywhere saying no photos. Yeah I could have taken some photo's anyway, but Japanese culture is very polite and it would have been extremely rude.

 

 

DSC_0212.jpg

 

This is the entrance to one of the few hundred stores in the mall.

 

 

DSC_0217.jpg

 

 

There were a few stores selling a lot of Anime cells. If you are a collector of cells there was what seemed like a lot of high quality cells for sale. The one in this picture was around $70 CDN/US. I bought a nice cell of Piccolo from Dragon Ball Z for $17 CDN/US. I also saw a killer cell from Spirited Away, the guy is so big Disney distributes his films, for $3000 CDN/US.

 

Edit- I saw some older manga books for sale but they did not seem to have the collector market that comics do in Canada. I most expensive books I saw were between $100-200 CDN/US, most were by the creator of Astro Boy. He is the equivalent of Adams or Schomburg to Japanese fans.

 

 

Here are two pics of the Manga selection from an average bookstore in Japan. Makes you realize just how small the comic market in North America really is.

 

 

DSC_0243.jpg

 

This first picture shows how many row of manga there are.

 

DSC_0242.jpg

 

This second picture shows how deep the rows are.

 

This really blew me away. This was an average bookstore in Tokyo, so probably a lot larger then bookstores in smaller areas. But still, this store had eight to ten times the manga of a manga specialty shop in North America. This was just a Barnes and Noble or Chapters to us North Americans.

 

 

So why is everything so cute in Japan? While walking around a famous Temple in Tokyo I found out it was genetic.

 

 

DSC_0178.jpg

 

This statue is a few hundred years old and proves the Japanese disposition to have everything cutesy.

 

 

Of course all of this sightseeing is a lot of work. Had to have a nice dinner afterwards on the way back to my place. This was in Yokohama overlooking the main part of the city.

 

DSC_0239.jpg

 

All the food is gone, but as you can see the restaurant is nice. How cold is that beer?

 

 

DSC_0133.jpg

 

In case you are wondering how cold that beer was. It was cold as ice :grin:

 

Well thats about it. Will finish up with one last photo...

 

 

DSC_0340.jpg

 

Wanted to bring one of these posters home, thought the A-Team poster looked killer with the Japanese lettering.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
itssmeeeeee

itssmeeeeee

Posted
Posted

Yea theres a japanese market near my area and its a supermarket/ restaurants in one building and a whole bookstore just as big next door and almost half of it was manga! Its amazing how big manga is a part of japanese culture.

 

Nice pictures btw :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
PokerKid

PokerKid

Posted
Posted

Nice pictures.

 

The most disappointing part of my trip and my scouring of Akihabara manga stores was that we apparently missed the Deathnote craze by a very long time. We planned on loading up on all the figures and paraphernalia we could find, but came up empty. Once something dies out there, it is gone and they just move on to the next thing.

 

Now, the maid cafe's are doing just fine. (Man, there are some creepy people in those cafes' - me not included of course.)

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Escaflown4

Escaflown4

Posted
Posted

Ah I miss Tokyo. Went there last November with the Mrs. and had a blast. The people were so friendly and polite. I would have to say hands down you will never get any better customer service on the face of the planet compared to Japan. Akihabara is just pure heaven for the anime toy collectors and gamers.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Chespirito

Chespirito

Posted
Posted

Well.. I actually live in Japan... I love their thrift shops and flea markets...

and get lost in toy stores with my son ..for hours...

 

Sapporo-- Oh Yeah!!! (thumbs u

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Bruce1971

Bruce1971

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Nice pictures.

 

The most disappointing part of my trip and my scouring of Akihabara manga stores was that we apparently missed the Deathnote craze by a very long time. We planned on loading up on all the figures and paraphernalia we could find, but came up empty. Once something dies out there, it is gone and they just move on to the next thing.

 

Now, the maid cafe's are doing just fine. (Man, there are some creepy people in those cafes' - me not included of course.)

 

I had heard that fads come and go really fast in Japan. I saw very little Death Note myself. I don't really know a lot of Anime, saw a lot of One Piece stuff though.

 

For North American figures I saw mostly Spider-man, a close second would have been Iron-Man and then Bat-man. Everything else was just a rare one here and there.

 

Bruce

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Bruce1971

Bruce1971

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Well.. I actually live in Japan... I love their thrift shops and flea markets...

and get lost in toy stores with my son ..for hours...

 

Sapporo-- Oh Yeah!!! (thumbs u

 

I am moving there early next year. Will pm you later, good to have a comic contact over there :)

 

Off to try my new Nintendo game, My Japanese Coach. Figure I gotta start learning for the move.

 

Bruce

Link to comment
Share on other sites
ElvistheSniper

ElvistheSniper

Posted
Posted

I loved working and living in Japan! I could go broke buying all the cool Manga books and toys. Do they still sell the bottle toppers for Pepsi? I remember collecting Snoopy(Peanuts) bottle tops at Christmas time.

 

It's such a great country to live in or visit. (thumbs u

 

Elvis

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Go to topic listing